Did Monroe Inker represent Norman Mailer as legal counsel in his trial
for murdering his wife?

al4537 --

While Norman Mailer was convicted of stabbing his second wife, Adele
Morales, in 1960, she barely survived the attack, so the charge was
felonious assault, not murder. He ultimately confessed and was given a
suspended sentence after Ms. Morales refused to press charges.  Here
is a link to a contemporaneous account on the crime:

"New York Times: Norman Mailer Arrested in Stabbing of Wife at a
Party" (November 22, 1960)
http://partners.nytimes.com/books/97/07/13/reviews/mailer-stabbing.html

According to the New York Times, Mailer was represented in that
criminal case by a  lawyer named Irving Mendelson.  In a story about
Mailer's commitment to Bellevue Hospital after a medical report about
his psychiatric condition, the Times story said:

"Mr. Mailer, wearing a storm coat, stood silently beside his lawyer,
Irving Mendelson, as the report was read, and then told the court he
wished to speak."
New York Times: Norman Mailer Sent to Bellevue Over His Protest in
Wife Knifing (November 23, 1960)
http://partners.nytimes.com/books/97/07/13/reviews/mailer-bellevue.html

Although there is little online information about Mr. Mendelson (who
is probably long decesased), we do know that he was a criminal lawyer
because he was the author of a book entitled "Defending Criminal
Cases":
WorldCat: "Defending Criminal Cases"
http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/ow/33dda641a003faa0.html

Although Monroe Inker apparently did (and maybe does) represent Mailer
in his civil domestic relations disputes, it is not surprising that he
was not the counsel of record in the assault case because Inker is a
divorce lawyer, not a criminal lawyer.  Here is a link to a
Google-cached interview with Mr. Inker that refers to his
representation of Mailer:

Boston Globe Magazine: Monroe Inker
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:fME0Mhl_assJ:search.boston.com/globe/magazine/1998/4-12/interview/+%22monroe+inker%22+mailer&hl=en


Additional Information:

Here is one account of the sequence of events, from the stabbing to
the handing down of the suspended sentence:

"Arrested for stabbing second wife Adele Morales twice with a penknife
at their Manhattan apartment on November 20, 1960 after a party,
unofficially kicking off his New York mayoral campaign; spent 17 days
at Bellevue Hospital under psychiatric observation; grand jury
indicted him for felonius assault; six months later, Mailer pled
guilty to lesser charge of third-degree assault and recieved suspended
sentence."
Hollywood.com: Celebrities: Norman Mailer
http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/detail/celeb/193915
Search Strategy:

I used various Google searches to find the information and to confirm
its completeness and accuracy, including these, among others:

"norman mailer" stabbed wife arrested
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22norman+mailer%22+stabbed+wife+arrested

"norman mailer" assault adele wife
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=%22norman+mailer%22+adele+assault+wife+

"irving mendelson"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=+%22irving+mendelson%22


I am confident that this is the information you are seeking, and I was
happy to be able to provide it to you promptly.  If anything is
unclear, please ask for clarification before rating this answer.


markj-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by al4537-ga on 19 Jul 2004 16:03 PDT

I wanted to know if Monroe Inker represented Norman Mailer, as legal counsel.

---

Clarification of Answer by markj-ga on 19 Jul 2004 16:26 PDT

al4537 --

Thanks for posting a clarification request, but I'm not sure I
understand what it is you need clarified.  As I said in my answer,
Mailer was represented as legal counsel by Irving Mendelson, not
Monroe Inker, in connection with charge of stabbing his wife in 1960.

I'm sorry if this fact was not clearly enough stated in the answer. 
If this clarification still leaves you unclear, please let me know.

markj-ga